Through Glass and Fire
by BrokenKeyBlade
Summary: Riku can see Axel even though no one else can. And how is that? Well, Axel's dead and Riku can see spirits. But something's wrong: Axel can't move on until he contacts Roxas. And how is Sora and his dead brother involved? And an organization of ghosts?
1. Nothing to Surround Him

You can't _really_ see ghosts, can you?

It really depends on what you mean by ghosts.

* * *

><p>Since the beginning of time, or at least their life time, Riku had been able to see things. He wouldn't call them ghosts, or even spirits, but he knew that they had feelings and thoughts, but no defined body and mass. They were like little specks of light, glittering up the air, and had no shape or color. They whispered to him, but not words. The whispered their feelings to him.<p>

Sometimes, it wasn't so bad. He had felt so many fantastic feelings, like the sunny days of summer, or the first snow in your life, a first kiss, relaxing in a hot bubble bath. Simple, but wonderful, things that he might not have experienced in his physical life. By that toll, he did experience terrible things as well. Being tortured, crying over your first love leaving you, breaking a bone, those types of things. He had always been hesitant about touching these glittering lights, because he just never knew if they were going to share a pleasant feeling with him.

He was quite thankful that people in his everyday physical life didn't know how to express their feelings with a touch. He could sense their feelings, a very light taste of it, but nothing over-powering, not like the glittering substances. All these people had a shimmering aura around them, different colors depending on their emotion. When Riku looked in the mirror, he saw gray. When he looked at his best friend, yellow. Everyone had one, unless they didn't have a soul or something, because Riku hadn't ever seen a somebody with out it. Well, at least any living person. When he went to his mother's funeral, she had no aura, so to him, it made her look even more dead than the fact that she wasn't breathing.

Riku had never met anyone else that had his "gift", but, if any one did, he didn't think that they would care to mention it. I mean, who would believe them anyway? Who would believe him? No one, it was too far fetched, and everyone knew that this world was boring and nothing special ever happened, especially to a lonely little high schooler. That only happened in books and movies. Not to real people.

But Riku wasn't allowed to have a normal life. Riku had to be punished for being born.

XXXX

"Riku, did you finish the history homework?" The brunette asked, cocking his head to the side in the adorable puppy dog way he had. Riku smiled at his friend and shook his head.

"Sora, what have I said before?"

"No cheating off Riku's homework..." He looked down and shrugged. "But this time is different! I need to look at-"

"-my work to see if you have your paper right and then fill in the ones that you just couldn't do?" Riku raised his eyebrow. Sora opened his mouth, but then closed it. The silverette chuckled lightly and turned his attention back to the board.

Ah, the life of a high schooler. Easy, right?

Not quite.

Especially when the unusual events of life went for an even more drastic turn.

The bell for the lunch period rang shrill in the students ears. One by one, they left the classrooms, chatting amongst themselves about frivolous things. Riku put his notebook in his bag and stood, grabbed Sora's bag, and walked out, the younger of the two trailing behind.

"You know, I can carry my own books." Sora said.

"Yeah, I know." Riku smirked at the brunette but handed his bag back to him. "Anyway, I have to go to my locker."

The yellow light surrounding Sora flickered a bit, and unknowingly to him, his disappointment was expressed.

"Oh, okay. I have to go meet up with Kairi in the library... I'd go with you, but she needs me to help her with that project." He bit his lip. "I'll see you in a few minutes, then."

The silver haired teen nodded and started in the opposite direction. His locker was at the end of the hallway, and then a little bit to the left. He sighed and hiked up the bag better on his shoulders.

"Where the fuck am I..."

Riku looked up at the sound of an unfamiliar voice. At first, he didn't notice the figure, and he didn't understand why until he got closer.

This person didn't have an aura.

* * *

><p><strong>Okay, new fanfic idea. I've been writing this for awhile, originally it was going to be a short story with just maybe three chapters, but damn it, I got creative and had some good ideas. You'll see, things get a little deep. And yes, this is a light yaoi story (meaning homosexual relationship for the new readers out there! Yes, there was one point when I didn't know what yaoi was!). Pairing: SoRiku, AkuRoku and... well, you'll see ;)<strong>

**I really hope people read this. The lack of reviews has gotten me depressed. Even if it just says 'update' or a simple 'this is good' I'd be happier :) **


	2. Drowning In the Truth

Riku's eyes widened. He had never seen a living person that didn't have an aura.

The person, a male, turned his head, his fire read hair bobbing around his slim face. He paused for a moment and then walked up to the silverette.

"Can you see me?" He waved his hand annoyingly in his face, and Riku took a step back. It was unnerving, and not just because a total stranger was in his face, but because it was like seeing a moving corpse.

"Yes I can see you, idiot." Was his snarky reply. He took another step back.

"Oh, thank god, for a second I thought this was a school for the blind!" Riku raised his eyebrow at this comment.

"Why would you think that..." Before he could reply, Riku understood. It made sense, but all at the same time it didn't.

"I've been trying to get people's attention, but they walk right past me. A few times, they almost ran into me. People here are just assholes, aren't they?" He ran a hand through his long hair and glanced around at the empty hallway, his bright green eyes darting back and forth. He was at least a head taller than Riku, but he slumped a bit, making him look slightly sulky but with the same lankiness as a lamppost.

Riku stared at the teenager, still slightly in awe. He hadn't seen one like this since...

"I don't know how the hell I got here. One minute I was at the beach, skipping school like I do almost every Friday, you know, and the next I was here. Fucking weird, isn't it?" The unnamed red head looked at Riku.

"Yeah, weird stuff..." Riku didn't know if his theory was true, and he had no way to prove it unless he questioned this guy, but he didn't know if telling the dead that they were dead would have a bad reaction.

_Maybe it's true what they say, ginger's really have no soul_, Riku thought sarcastically.

"My name's Axel, commit it to memory," He tapped his temple twice and nodded. "So, where am I?"

"Destiny High," Riku answered and paused. "Where are you from?" He obviously wasn't a native.

"Twilight Town. But like I said before, I skipped school to go to the beach with some friends." He bit his bottom lip and put his hand on his bony hip. "I'm feeling a bit funny too, now that I think about it. It's kinda cold, but Destiny Islands is warm all the time, right?" Riku nodded, hoping that this Axel character would figure it out on his own without Riku having to tell him. "Yeah, and I can't seem to remember what's happened..." He shrugged.

"You can't remember anything?" Riku questioned.

"Nah, the last thing I saw was a whole bunch of bubbles, blackness, and then I woke up in this hall. Fucking weird," He repeated and trailed off. Then he looked down at his clothes. "And I'm dry! I wonder how long I was passed out?" He scratched his head.

"Axel, I think you might be..." Riku paused as the red head stopped glancing around. "You might be..."

"Riiiiiku!" Came Sora's voice from the end of the hall. He ran the rest of the way and came to a halt about three inches from the dead teenager, who took a step back and almost fell over. He let out an annoyed "The fuck?" and glared at the shorter brunette.

"Sora, what are you doing here?" Riku asked, his heart beat speeding up and he glanced between the two students. Sora couldn't see Axel, and surely the red head would be very aggravated as he was being ignored, still thinking he was alive.

"I was tired of waiting for you. What have you been doing all this time?" He raised an eyebrow. "Just standing here?" Riku shrugged.

"Helloooo, am I invisible?"

"Give me five more minutes, okay?" Riku almost pleaded, giving a sideways glance to Axel. Sora cocked his head but then gave it up. His aura turned blue for a second, showing confusion, but it turned back into a nuetral, bleak yellow.

"Okay, hurry up." he said hesitantly. "Kairi thinks you're avoiding her." He waved and jogged off.

"What a jerk!" Axel pouted and crossed his arms. "But he looks so familiar, I swear I've seen him before... Give me a second, I'll get it..." As the red head was thinking about this, Riku turned around and started walking towards his locker. The taller teen followed, still pondering, and Riku sighed.

"I'm having a hard time remembering anything..."

Riku pierced his lip in between his teeth. He needed to tell this guy. But... How do you tell someone they're dead?

"Ax-"

"Shhh!" The red head interrupted. "Tip of my tongue..." His face contorted in intense concentration and for a second Riku thought that he might explode. But he just sprang up, and snapped his fingers. "Ah-ha! Roxas! He looks just like Roxas, but with brown hair."

He gave Riku a triumphant look and crossed his arms, leaning against the lockers as the shorter teen pulled out the wanted binder and put his textbook back into the locker. He look intently into the depths of his locker, hoping to find an answer to his new found problem, or, hopefully, the eccentric red head would get bored and leave. But no. Life of the living and dead had no easy answers or cheats.

"Axel, what do you think happened after you went under the water?" He started, shutting the locker door slowly, listening for the click, and then leaning against the wall, mirroring the taller teens stance.

"Uh..." He scratched his chin thoughtfully. "I don't know. I guess it doesn't really make sense. Who knows, I could've been shit faced and imagined the whole thing, and wandered in here and passed out." He shrugged, like he did that kind of thing regularly.

"Axel... I think you might be..." Riku mumbled the last word, looking down.

"What did you say?" He bent down and cupped his hand over his ear. "Couldn't hear you." Riku rolled his eyes.

Then he remembered something. Two days ago the school paper published an article about a drowning that had happen on the beach right next to the campus. He hadn't paid much attention because he figured it was probably some nobody, but he wish he would've read it now.

"Come with me, I've got something to show you." He started towards the table where they kept spare newspapers, and the green eyed teenager followed him.

As they got nearer and nearer, Riku got more and more nervous. But it had to be done, he was the only one here who could help this guy.

Riku stopped next to the table and pointed at the article. Front page, in bold letters read:

**Senior Axel Kija Drowns In Ocean**

* * *

><p><strong>Ah, okay. Debating to put chapter three on or not. I have like five other chapters done, but I want to keep the suspence going... Yeah, I'll wait. <strong>

**Love it? Hate it? Tell me!**


End file.
